The functioning of the human spirit
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- Category: Scripture
- Created: Sunday, 20 March 2011 17:39
- Published: Sunday, 20 March 2011 17:25
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Human spirit has a beginning but no end
Abdu'l-Baha describes the human spirit as "phenomenal". By this, he means that it is preceded by a cause. It comes into existence when the body's elements are combined in the womb in accordance with the laws of nature. It does not exist before that.
However, unlike the other spirits in nature, the human spirit does not cease to exist when the body's elements decompose. This is because the human spirit is, as explained in the previous section, a "divine sign"; that is, it is a sign of the perfections of God in the phenomenal world. In addition to that, the human spirit is the state of perfection in the phenomenal world and, as such, it cannot cease to exist. Without the human spirit, the phenomenal world would have no purpose.